The Israeli High Court ruled Thursday it is illegal for the Israeli occupation forces to use Palestinian civilians as "human shields" in arrest raids, the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper reported.

Israeli Chief Justice Aharon Barak, ruling in response to petitions from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the "Adallah" human rights organization, said this practice contradicts international law. "You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate with the army," Barak ruled.

Based on this principle, he said, "we rule it illegal to use civilians as human shields, and we also rule it illegal to use civilians to pass military warnings from the army to those the army wants to arrest."